Jeri Smith-Ready

Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Before I forget (and while the link is still in my clipboard, before I go and copy something else and then have to copy it again, frustrated with my porous powers of attention), the class of 2k10's graduation party for the class of 2K9 continues today with another big book giveaway! My readers who love music might especially enjoy J.T. Dutton's Freaked, about a teenage Deadhead. Go forth and enter! Then come back.

Today marks one year since the auction for Shade, originally known as Generation Ghost. The climate in publishing was frosty, to say the least (paralyzed with fear, to say the most). Black Wednesday had occurred only five days before, when three major publishing houses announced major cutbacks. We were all pretty scared. (Come to think of it, we still are, but Black Wednesday was a heaping concentrated dose of ACK!.)

But Generation Ghost sold, on proposal, no less, to the publisher I'd dreamed of for years, since I'd first started reading YA: Simon Pulse. There was much rejoicing!

Even as it happened, I never realized that a year later I'd be sitting here with a box of Advance Review Copies (ARCs).

(Click for larger version.)

To celebrate the first anniversary of this unlikely occurrence, I'm doing a low-key giveaway of an a Shade ARC. This will probably be the only copy (other than the Blogtoberfest prize) to be given out before Christmas, because I still need to figure out how many ARCs are going where for what purposes. (I snagged myself a short extension on my Bring on the Night rewrite until next Monday, so I'm still slammed for time.)

So to enter to win a Shade ARC, tell me what odd anniversaries you celebrate. Something other than birthdays, deaths, weddings. First dates? Adopting a pet? The first time you saw Star Wars in the movie theatre?

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Tedious Rules to keep my butt from being sued:

1. Contest open to U.S. residents only. This isn't because I'm cheap and don't want to pay international postage. It's because I'm trying to keep this contest legal and can only keep track of one country's laws at a time. Sorry!

2. Retail value: $0. ARCs can't be resold. But why would you want to?

3. Odds of winning depend upon the number of participants.

4. To enter, simply leave a comment. On Tuesday, December 15 at 11:59pm, a winner will be drawn using a random number generator. NOTE: THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED TO ENTRIES. The winner is Carrie!

5. Names of winners will be posted in the comments of this post, and in the first post to appear after the drawing. Winners have one week to claim their prize by contacting me via e-mail at jeri AT jerismithready DOT com. If the winner does not contact me by that time, I will draw another name at random.

June 15- we celebrate the day my mom bought the restaurant she owns now. She had worked there before as a manager, but the owners were really slimy so she took it off of their hands. She always brings the entire family down for free dinner on that day. :)

My boyfriend and I were best friends before we started dating so we celebrate the anniversary of the day he kissed me and told me he loved me, even though we didn't actually start dating for another several months. It's pretty much replaced our actual anniversary.

It's not a celebration so much as a commemoration, but we honor October 17th, which was the date of the Loma Prieta earthquake, the biggest one I ever lived through. This year was the 20th anniversary, and a bunch of us shared our stories and memories online.

1) the first time my younger sister said my name correctly (January 23rd, 1996)--she was almost three and to that point had referred to me basically by saying 'aaaaaaaaaaaaeeeeeeee' because for whatever reason she couldn't say 'aley' or 'alex'. But I came in to get her ready for daycare that day and she rolled over, punched my arm (she hates being woken up) and said 'Aley NOT TODAY' before rolling back to sleep. I kept her home that day.

2) The first time I saw my boyfriend. Which isn't the same date he thinks it is. He thinks we first met when Kimmi introduced us in 2004. When in fact I saw him for the first time in GAmestop at the mall 4 years before. He helped me pick out a game for my brother, but he doesn't remember that. I call it FATE.

I don't really have any odd anniversaries I celebrate except the day I arrived in my new state. I had lived my whole life in California and picked up stakes and moved to Florida - which involved my adult son and I driving across country in a U-Haul. In my boring life, that was a great adventure and a wonderful time spent with my son.

1)I personally celebrate the day I became a librarian on every Feb 4th.I always feel like it's the day I became an adult, with a "real job".

2)My boyfriend and I always celebrate our first kiss on Nov.5th,1996 every year. We were kids and it's amazing that we're still together, so it's special to us, & more important than any other anniversary we have together.

I have celebrated my one year anniversary of blogging! But other than that - every year my other half and I celebrate the date that we met. WE hadn't started seeing each other yet, but we SAW each other! LOL

We celebrate all our animals (3 dogs/3cats)b'days (or the date we got them if we don't know the date)

My husband and I also celebrate our first date, He told a joke and I laughed so hard I spit soda all over his dashboard! Very classy - but he didn't dump me so we consider that the point where we knew it was "true love" HA

I can't say that I "celebrate" any odd anniversaries. But I do make note of the beginning of February since there is a spat of musical deaths. February 1 - Richie Edwards of the Manic Street Preachers went missing. February 2 - Sid Vicious Dies. February 3 - Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens were killed in a plane crash.

The husband and I still commemorate our original "going steady" date. We feel it' pretty special since it started seven long years together prior to the additional nine we've been married now. So technically, we already felt married before we even got married.

Looking forward to your first Ya and thanks for the opportunity to win it early.

I must be completely odd because I don't really celebrate any odd anniversaries. The closest thing I get to that is marking time from when I moved right before my freshman year of HS. Cross-country and didn't know a soul in a brand new hs. Sheer torture. But of course I got over it, but we still say "can you believe it's 11 years since we moved?" that sort of thing..

We tend to at least keep track of our pets ages, usually based off the holiday closest to when we adopted them. We also keep track of the anniversaries of when both my parents quit smoking and how long we've been in this house.

1. I celebrate all of my cats' birthdays. We only know the exact date for Riley (because my friend was there when her cat had the kittens) so for the rest we counted back however many weeks the vet estimated from the date we got them, and arbitrarily picked dates. Hobbes and Rupert have the same birthday because when we counted back for Rupert it was really close to Hobbes, and we figured they could have a joint-celebration.

2. My girlfriend and I celebrate our anniversary as the day we finally talked it out and figured out what we were doing. It was just a random night on the internet when I posted a survey on myspace and left the question asking about a significant other blank because I didn't really know what to put. It doesn't correspond with a first date, or when we first met. Just the day we sat down and defined the relationship.

Looks like I'm not the only one who celebrates pet's adoption days. I buy them a little present to celebrate them joining our family. Very cool! We also celebrate the date we bought our home, usually with dinner and a special toast.

My boyfriend and I celebrate the day he said he loved me. June 4th, 2008. =] And I also celebrate when ever the new Twilight Saga movies come out or Harry Potter...kind of lame, I know, but it's a tradition my mom and I started that her and I go see them together.

I celebrate the day of my heart surgery which was in 2007 because it was such a scary time in my life. After the successful surgery I've come to appreciate my life and the things in it so much more. =)

I celebrate and remember loved ones who are gone on their birthdays and the anniversaries of their deaths, but I also smile and remember on the dates of things that were special to me in my life, like a special trip or a wonderful concert.

This seems very odd because its depressing and to other people not a big deal but November 1st 2006 my big sister moved to Texas. It was one of the worst days of my life. My mom moved 2 years earlier and my dad moved February 2006 so my sister was the last person in Colorado with me so I was completely alone. I even remember the last dinner and drink we had. We are all together again now since I moved to Texas February 2007 but I always remember that day when it comes around and remember the feeling of being completely alone. lol sad and weird to remember that anniversary.

My husband and I celebrate our wedding anniversary (Oct. 16th), our children's birthdays (May 7th and 25th), and of course the crazy Irish Terrier's birthday in April because she is spoiled rotten. We don't pay much attention to our own birthdays 'cuz we are old...........LMAO!Debi Murray

My hubby and I celebrate Labor Day weekend because it's the weekend we met in 1987 at a bar in college. I was there with his roommate's girlfriend. When hubby and I were talking, he dropped his beer on my foot. We have been together ever since! :o)

We've created/adapted a few holidays that have become tradition. When my daughter is home from college in the spring we celebrate Past-Over by inviting her friends for a big spaghetti dinner. They all dress like pirates, we pass the eye-patch around the table and say what we are thankful for. We also seem to have an annual make Indian food/play Rock Band night.

My favorite anniversaries are my retired racing greyhounds' Home Days. I especially remember bringing my girl home almost 9 years ago. She was my first dog and I was almost as freaked out as she was! But we both adjusted very quickly and it was the best decision I ever made. They are the sweetest, funniest dogs ever, I'm very lucky to have discovered what greyt pets greyhounds make!

Every year my best friends and I, who happen to be great family friends, celebrate: Christmica, a combination of hanukah and christams. We exchange gifts under the tree, light the menora, eat patato latkees (pardon my spelling), and drink eggnog. It's a great way to celebrate both holidays!

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